​Well, we are officially seven days into the year, and it has been quite the adjustment for all of us. Kindergarten is tough! For many of my students, it's the first time they have gone to school five days a week (or 4 in our case so far!), seven hours a day. Not to mention, our days have been filled with lots of new learning! For a five or six-year-old, this can all be a bit overwhelming. Don't worry though! We have also had a lot of fun making new friends and creating lasting memories.

Since many of you can't visit our classroom during the day, I thought I would take this time to share with you some of the things we have learned since the start of the school year. Even though we have begun to learn skills in the areas of reading, writing, and math, I would say a larger portion of what we have learned so far has involved routines and procedures. In order for this year to be a success, students must first understand how to do the common, everyday things in our classroom. I think you would be amazed at some of the things I've had to teach. Let me give you an example.

It was the first day of school. One little boy in my room (who shall remain nameless) was in the bathroom for quite some time during one of our restroom breaks. I decided to peak into the bathroom to see what was going on. Well, to my surprise I see the little boy pushing against the divider that hides the urinals. He continues to do this until he got on his belly to try to crawl under the divider. I said to him, "Buddy, what are you doing?" Without missing a beat, he responded with wide, fearful eyes, "I'm trying to open the door, but it won't move!" I proceeded to explain that this was just a wall, and that he needed to walk around it to get inside. Poor thing! Ironically enough, later on that same day, I heard a different little girl crying outside our door. Yes, you guessed it...she couldn't open the door to our classroom! It was at that moment, I decided I needed to do a whole class lesson on how to open all of the doors in our classroom.

Every day has brought about moments such as these, where I've had to teach spur-of-the-moment lessons on the smallest of tasks. I'm sure if you could be a fly on the wall, you would laugh at some of the conversations I've had to have with my students. :)

Over the years, I have found one of the most effective strategies when teaching routines and procedures is by using pictures. Throughout the first few weeks of school, I carry my camera around and take pictures of students showing me the correct ways to do various things. For example, when I taught students how to sit on the carpet (yes, this was actually one of my lessons), I took a picture of one of my students sitting the right way. After collecting many photos of students acting out various routines and procedures, I created PowerPoint slides to share with my students. These slides will serve as a reminder to students throughout the year on what to do and how to act at school. Here are some of the procedural pictures I have taken:

Lining Up Lunch Stick Locker

Mailbox Quiet Packing Up

​ Stack Chair Backpack End of Day

​ Folder Read to Self Stamina

​My students have come to rely on these photos and slides to help them remember how and what to do. This next story happened a few years ago in kindergarten, but it reminded me how powerful these pictures can be. One afternoon at the of the day, a student of mine said, "Ms. Benson, can you turn on the movie? I can't remember everything I'm supposed to do." At first I didn't know what she was referring to since I've never shown a movie at school. But then, I realized the "movie" she was referencing was the "End of the Day" PowerPoint slide that I had forgotten to project on a screen much like you would see at a movie theater...hence her movie reference. This particular moment reinforced for me how effective these pictures can be and made me a believer in the famous saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words."

In addition to learning routines and procedures, my students have had lots of practice with reading, writing, and math. In particular, we have continued to build stamina in the areas of reading and writing. The results have been AMAZING! My students are able to do Read to Self independently for 19 minutes, and they are now able to write independently for 23 minutes. Never, have I ever, had a group of kindergarten students build stamina this quickly! I am hoping to begin working with 1-2 small groups in reading and writing this next week. We will see if they are independent enough to let me do that. Here are a couple videos from Read to Self, Writers' Workshop, and cleaning up quickly and quietly. I think you, like I, will be blown away by how serious they take their jobs as readers and writers! Keep in mind, many of my students cannot read or write words yet, so this is really incredible!

As I sit and reflect on these last seven days, I am amazed at what my students have been able to accomplish so far. They have already grown in so many ways! My hope in all of this is to create smart, independent students who develop necessary, life-long skills. I want my students to be problem solvers, critical thinkers, and ultimately, honest and kind individuals. I truly believe that these are the skills my students are developing in my classroom at this very moment. These are skills they will carry with them the rest of their lives.

Above is a beautiful picture I captured of my sweet student, Edwin. I love this picture mainly because I feel like it captures the excitement my students feel each and every day in kindergarten. Their love of learning is contagious, and I am blown away at all they have been able to accomplish. Considering all of the skills my students have learned so far, I can't wait to see what they are able to learn in the weeks to come. Here's to the rest of this year! Check back next week for more learning updates. I will focus my next post on what students are specifically learning in the areas of reading, writing, and math. Until then, have a great week!